Those Who Are Blind
by dattebayo1213
Summary: The Uzumaki children are explained. At least, however much you can explain them.


Story—Those Who Are Blind

A/N: Something I wrote for Mieke a couple months ago. She and Lunarvision liked it, and I kinda found it magically today, so present, y'all. :D Review? Please? I seem to be having a large lack of those. xp

The four of them had always been close, no matter what the rest of the world thought. Sure, the rest of the world saw them fight, saw them call each other names, saw Yuri abuse her poor brothers with her frying pan, and chalked it up to hatred and a horrible family environment, what with them being "the demon's children", but the four of them knew that it was their own special type of love. And when their father died, they got even closer.

Ryu had always been the mature one, growing up at a mere two and a half because he felt the newly born Yuri deserved a capable older brother. He'd always stood strong enough for the other three, his external lack of emotion making others think that he hated his siblings and his family to the point that he simply felt nothing towards them. But the other three knew this was not true. They had seen Ryu bring Yuri her teddy bear in the middle of the night, sitting by her bed into the early hours of the morning to ensure her safety. They had seen him train with Iruka, taking advantage of the boy's wish to become better and pushing him to his limits. And they had seen him hold Natto tightly when he thought no one was looking, whispering sweet nothings to the little boy as he slept in his arms.

Yuri was the rebel. Being the only daughter, she was her father's favorite, and by a young age, had him wrapped completely around her finger, although neither would admit it. She had always been thought of as the violent type, whipping out her frying pan at the first sign of trouble, and, even as a baby, demonstrating a disturbing propensity to smacking people over the head with household objects. Even though her brothers were often the subject of this abuse, and were pitied by the rest of the village for it, they knew she never meant it. They were the only ones who saw the softer side of her, when no one else was around. Her tough act was exactly what it was—an act. No one else saw her apologize profusely when she hit one of them, going as far as to get them a bandage if she had hurt them too badly. No one else had seen her sing Iruka to sleep when he would stay up into the night, whimpering in fear as the shadows on his ceiling took on shapes of dragons or monsters. No one else saw her bouncing Natto on her knee, a soft smile on her face, or reading him a story as she rocked him to sleep. Only they did, and they kept the secret of her true nature well.

Iruka was the quiet one. If anyone asked anything of him, he'd comply without a single objection. He never defied authority, following quietly behind whoever he felt held the power without question. He was teased by the children at school for his failure at hand-to-hand combat and athletics, and laughed at for his tendency to lock himself in his room when things got too hard for him to handle. But no one except his siblings saw the quiet determination in his eyes when he trained, no one else knew of his intense wish to live up to his father's expectations and become the fighter that he was expected to be. No one else saw Iruka break down crying after his first kill, sobbing about how he had never meant to do something that horrible to anyone. No one else saw him get into a fight one day at school, beating the daylights out of a boy who had the audacity to tell him that his brother was a demon. And no one else ever knew about his promise not to cry again in front of others, because he felt it made him look weak. And they would support him in honoring it, even if it meant lying to everyone they knew.

Natto was the youngest, his father's darling. He had always been the talented one, seemingly picking up things in the blink of an eye, and excelling at everything—fighting, academics, sports, relationships, you name it. No one but his older siblings saw him slave over his studies with Iruka into the early hours of the morning, just so he could come at the top of his class in the next test and make his parents proud. No one else saw Natto, at the age of five, cry over killing the small kitten he had brought home one morning, putting it out of its misery once he realized that the kitten was severely bleeding internally. And no one else knew why he had killed animals indiscriminately after that day, except for the

hree of them.

They all knew things about each other that the world would never know. So, were they, are they still close? Ask any of them and you would get a negative reply. But watch them close enough, and you'll see a whole other dimension to their relationship.


End file.
